Editorial

DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1108/JAP-03-2018-0004
Pages73-77
Date09 April 2018
Published date09 April 2018
AuthorBridget Penhale,Margaret Flynn
Subject MatterHealth & social care,Vulnerable groups,Adult protection,Safeguarding,Sociology,Sociology of the family,Abuse
Bridget Penhale and Margaret Flynn
Welcome to our second issue of this year. As always, there are lots of events to snag the
attention of safeguarding students violence in all its manifestations, belated convictions,
the bonuses of the overpaid and organisations caught in the headlights because they did not
protect children and young people and adults with support needs. There are too many trials
being described as the biggest [] abuse scandal. So, we will begin with a rare account of a
successful and concerted initiative, to reduce knife crime. No knives, better lives[1]was part of
the Scottish Governments response to Scotlands significant knife crime problem. The
Strathclyde Police set up a specifically funded Violence Reduction Unit, which has adopted a
public health approach to knife crime, that is, the police undertake focussed work with the health,
education and the social work services. From stop and searches, hard-hitting campaigns,
increasing sentences for carrying knives in Scotland and hearing victims and their relatives
describe the impacts of knife crimes on them, in court Scotland has significantly reduced the
numbers of children and teenagers killed.
Another programme of work merits consideration. Two years ago, the Mersey Care Trust set
itself the goals of reducing re-admissions for self-harm and eliminating suicides[2]. Mental health
patientssocial media posts are scanned by an artificial intelligence app for signs and cues that
they may be contemplating harm or suicide and it alerts services when they visit suicide hotspots.
While perhaps not as exhilarating as the precision and miniaturisation of robot-assisted remote
surgery, for example, the outcomes are just as valued.
Back to the usualfare, we begin with the trial of LarryNassar, a world-renowned SportsPhysician,
who has justbegun his 175-year sentence fordecades of sexually abusinggirls and young women
who aspired to be Olympian athletes. More than 150 women made impact statements[3].
Complaints about him were dismissed. He convinced parents that their children were lying. It is
inexplicable that his night time pelvic examsin hotels and dormitories went unchallenged. USA
Gymnastics, Michigan State University and the US Olympics Committee took no action.
Onto football and one junior football coach, youth scout and predatory paedophiles legacy will
not be forgotten at Chelsea, Crewe Alexandra and Manchester City. Since Barry Bennell was
also associated with junior teams in Derbyshire, Staffordshire, Cheshire and Greater Manchester
and soccer campsin the USA, the reach of his crimes is unknown[4]. A series of convictions in
the USA and UK did not halt his crimes. A star maker”–it is not only the patriarchy of filmmakers
who deploy sexual aggression to selectively advance the careers of chosen victims. Just as
#MeToo revealed the courage required by young women in a single industry to reveal the dark
underbelly of criminal assaults and threats, children and young boys did not asked to be raped.
Bennell has been jailed for 31 years.
Bijan Ebrahini was a disabled Iranian refugee who will not be quickly forgotten by Avon and
Somerset Police and Bristol City Council[5]. They treated him as a nuisance and troublemaker
rather than a complainant reporting multiple crimes committed against him. He was arrested on
15 occasions and yet was never prosecuted. He was kicked to death and a neighbour,
Lee James, who had believed Ebrahini was a paedophile, set his body on fire. The failures of the
police and council resulted in the findings of police racism at both officer and institutional levels.
He was treated differently to his detriment and without objective reason. Four police officers
were dismissed, two of whom received jail sentences two decades after the publication of the
MacPherson report concerning the racist murder of Stephen Lawrence and the institutional
racism that was prevalent at that time.
DOI 10.1108/JAP-03-2018-0004 VOL. 20 NO. 2 2018, pp. 73-77, © Emerald Publishing Limited, ISSN 1466-8203
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THE JOURNAL OF ADULT PROTECTION
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PAG E 73
Editorial

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